Wayne Thomas Kear v. United States

Wayne Thomas Kear appeals from a judgment of conviction, and sentence, for the interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2312 (1964).

On July 15,1965, Kear left Casper, Wyoming, in company with two friends, and headed for Bakersfield, California where they sought employment. They stopped overnight on July 16, 1965 at Verdi, Nevada, which is situated two or three miles east of the California-Nevada state line. Kear separated from his travel companions and spent the evening drinking in various bars in Verdi. Kear claims that he does not remember anything further until he awoke the next morning, July 17, in an alley in Truckee, California, twenty-four miles from Verdi. Kear testified that he found the stolen car in the streets of Truckee with the keys in the ignition and drove off in it toward Sacramento.

Early on the morning of July 17, 1965, a Pontiac four-door sedan was reported stolen in Verdi, Nevada. At 7:18 that morning, while Kear was heading west in the stolen vehicle, he was arrested by an officer of the California Highway Patrol just west of Truckee, California. Shortly after 2:30 that afternoon Kear was interrogated by a special agent of…